Bad news for Labour: Voters are getting behind coalition’s cuts August 6, 2013 ED BALLS and the Labour party have a big problem. The British economy is recovering, despite the coalition’s relatively modest cuts, and the public is increasingly supportive of reducing public spending. This is a devastating blow for Labour’s entire narrative, which was predicated on the view that “cutting too far and too fast” would not [...]
All hail the boffin burger: The next step in human nutrition August 5, 2013 IT WOULD be easy to dismiss the serving of the first lab-grown burger as classic silly season fodder. Yet this is one photo opportunity that really may mark a historic moment, even if most seem to be missing its exact importance. In vitro meat is significant not because it increases menu options for a few [...]
The voice of business should burst the Westminster bubble August 1, 2013 IT IS great news to see that more senior business figures will be joining the House of Lords, including Sir Anthony Bamford, chairman of JCB and Dame Lucy Neville-Rolfe, former executive director of Tesco’s corporate and legal affairs department. At the same time, it’s not nearly enough – at least, that’s the judgement of some [...]
The ladder of innovation means ever more low-hanging fruit July 31, 2013 HARDNOSED business sense can improve charitable outcomes. That should be obvious enough, but it is a story that doesn’t always get the attention it deserves. How cheering then to read this week of the difference Toyota made to the efficiency of New York’s food banks by sharing its commitment to kaizen, or continuous improvement. By [...]
Britain is falling badly behind in the entrepreneurship stakes July 29, 2013 ONE OF Britain’s great advantages is that we are meant to be a much more entrepreneurial nation than most of our major competitors. We do, indeed, create more companies than some other wealthy countries but as a study by RSM reveals, we are hardly covering ourselves in glory. In fact, we are ranked a pathetic [...]
Global bond bubble will cripple all investors when it bursts July 28, 2013 THIS column has long highlighted the massive bubble in the global bond markets and the horrific, systemic risk it poses to the global recovery and financial system. A combination of ultra-low central bank short-term interest rates, massive amounts of quantitative easing (QE), regulatory-driven purchases of government bonds by financial institutions and Asian forex accumulation have [...]
We are expanding again – but the journey has barely begun July 25, 2013 FOR ONCE, economists managed to predict exactly yesterday’s second quarter GDP growth figures of 0.6 per cent. Such statistics should be treated extremely carefully: they are inevitably revised, sometimes dramatically. Yet it has been clear for months now that activity is thankfully returning, as is confidence, though the UK faces immense structural challenges. The economy [...]
We must urgently improve the quality of our economic growth July 24, 2013 BARRING an astonishing shock, today’s second quarter UK GDP figures will be good. But while economic activity is now clearly increasing again, I’m deeply worried about the quality of the growth and its sustainability when monetary policy is eventually tightened. Ever since the Keynesian revolution, the City and government have been far too obsessed with aggregate, [...]
Financial markets will face unbearable pressure when rates rise July 23, 2013 COULD the financial markets be about to have a heart attack? The reason I ask is a terrifying little document that has just landed on my desk. Entitled tellingly Capital Markets – the Arteries are Clogging and published by Redburn, the stockbroker, it highlights cogently a little-understood feature of the post-crisis economy. Liquidity, the lifeblood [...]
Monarchy’s extraordinary longevity is good for UK capitalism July 22, 2013 SO it is a boy, a Prince and our future King. It’s wonderful news for his parents, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, to whom we send our heartfelt congratulations; and an important moment for the country. The BBC and ITV interrupted their schedules; bankers’ toasted the Prince at a banquet in the City; town [...]